Lotus

Chapter 22

Several weeks went by, and pretty uneventfully at that. All of our teachers kept us pretty busy with classwork, most likely to keep everyone's minds off of the oleander incident.

While it was still on the backs of everyone's thoughts, they eventually calmed down on thinking that it might happen again. Even the dragons super paranoid about it were able to relax a bit, at least when we made several doses of the cure just in case.

What pushed out the thoughts about it most of all, however, was probably the week-long break coming up. Oriole and Copper said that since we had all been working so hard over that past little while, we deserved one. 

When the day we were able to leave finally came, I sat in my sleeping cave, re-reading the scroll I had received from my father a few days before.

Kamala,

I know you've been waiting for quite some time for this break, so you can come home. Honestly, I've felt the same way. However, for your own safety, I think it would be best for you to stay at Jade Mountain. The dragons have become quite riled up here for the past few days. A RainWing/MudWing hybrid was discovered recently, and the two tribes have been very on edge about it. I know that bringing another hybrid into the mix will not end well. I'm sorry, and I hope you can understand.

--Almond

I sighed, setting the scroll down. As disappointed as I was, I did understand. This kind of thing had happened once when I was a small dragonet. I didn't understand what was going on, or why dragons were all crowding and shouting around the water's edge, and I snuck out of our home to see. I didn't entirely remember what exactly had happened, but I did remember feeling some nasty bruises for the rest of the week.

I then stood up, and made my way to the entrance, to wave some of the others off. I also wanted to see who else was staying here. I hoped that there wouldn't be anyone expecting me to to talk to them for the entirety of the week. I was in desperate need of some alone time.

When I go there, I found that most of the dragons had already left, or were in the process of leaving. The rest were either talking or waiting. 

As I walked out, I passed Dignity. "I take it you're not going home," she said. Oddly enough, I didn't hear any meanness this time; at the very least, from what I could tell. I only nodded in response. 

Dignity opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something else, but stopped herself before she could. Without another word, she took off and didn't look back.

Before I had a chance to process that, I came up to where most of my winglet was. As I did, Sienna turned towards me. "There you are, Kamala! I was wondering where you were."

I smiled and looked around at the others. It didn't look like any of them were staying, but I had expected as much. We started talking for a bit, until they decided that they should probably be on their way.

"Bye, everyone! See you in a week! I'll miss you!" Sienna shouted at us as she started flying away with Bemire. Kosan and even Lamprey, who was flying next to Azure, waved back at us. 

I turned towards Walnut, who waited for me. "I'm sorry that I can't stay with you here. I want to, but…" He smiled slightly, and shrugged.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You go spend time with your family. You deserve it! Besides, by the look of those scrolls they sent you, your little cousins are super excited to see you."

We both laughed at that, thinking about the many scrolls he had received the past few days, with excited, messy writing and ink stains on them all. 

He sighed. "Okay. Just don't get into any more trouble." Chuckled, he hugged me quickly. "I'll say hi to your dad for you."

"Thanks," I called out to him as he started flying away. 

After a moment of watching, I turned to head back inside when I spotted Gemini a few feet away, looking out towards the Claws of the Clouds Mountains, and then to the SkyWing Kingdom.

"Where's Cassiopeia?" My words seemed to startle him, making him jump. 

He turned his head to look over at her. I followed his gaze to where she stood, next to Halcyon. "Still talking," Gemini said, then turned his gaze back to where it was before.

After a beat of silence, I spoke. "Worried?"

He hesitated then nodded. "I'm not sure I'll be able to face all of those dragons and what they think about me." A moment passed, and he glanced at me. "I have to though, don't I?" 

I only lightly smiled, figuring he already knew the answer to that question. And he did.

"Well," he said. "I guess it's as good an opportunity as any to talk to my mom about it." He stretched out his wings, and turned towards his sister. "Come on, Cassiopeia. We should go now."

I watched as she quickly said something to Halcyon, and she brushed one of her wings against his. She then came closer to us and took to the air, looking back at him as he lifted off in another direction.

I looked back and smiled at Gemini as he lifted off as well. "Thanks," he said.

"For what?"

He shrugged. "Everything. See you in a week!"

I waved at him, watching as he flew towards the SkyWing Kingdom. I wasn't sure how, but I had a feeling that neither of us would be quite the same when he returned.